Delia was sitting next to Murasaki on Murasaki's couch. Their socked feet resting on the coffee table in front of them. They were watching some movie about toy soldiers coming to life. Something Edna would probably get a kick out of. Behind them two arguing teenagers burst into the room. One, the boy, holding something just out of reach of the other, the girl. Murasaki sighed angrily, and apologized to Delia. She got onto her knees and turned around to her two siblings.

"Masaji! Mayumi! Come on! We're watching a movie!" Murasaki yelled to them in a surprisingly strong voice. Murasaki barely talked let alone yelled, so this out burst surprised Delia.

" 'We?' " Mayumi asked. Delia copied Murasaki's position and waved to the sister. The twins looked surprised, Masaji more than Mayumi.

"You have a friend, yousei?" Masaji asked. Murasaki sighed and told him something in Japanese. He frowned and walked out of the room in a huff. Mayumi walked over to the two girls.

"How are you, Delia?" Mayumi asked her. Delia informed her of her well being and Mayumi nodded pleased.

"Good. Now you two enjoy your movie. I'm going to go kill my brother," Mayumi told them with a smile and walked off in the same direction Masaji had. Delia smiled and she and Murasaki turned back around.

"You're family is nice," Delia told her. Murasaki smiled.

"I know," she said and they continued with the movie.

The next morning as the Brown family was just sitting down to breakfast, the phone rang. Dr. Brown, already standing, picked it up and spoke into it the normal greetings. He listened for a few moments before handing the phone to Ephram, who was surprised to take it.

"Hello?" Ephram asked into it.

"Ephram have you seen all of the snow! Why isn't school closed?" Jig asked him panicking. He sighed.

"Jig it's only a few inches. You've lived through worse."

"Yea but that's when I didn't have to go out into it!"

"Jig, that's just-"

"Can you come over?"

"What, now?"

"Yea, I need you to walk me to school."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't I might not make it," she informed him. Ephram sighed.

"I'll be right there," he said hanging the phone up. He made his excuses, put his coat on and grabbed his bag.

There was enough snow on the ground to cause a sweat with shoveling, but for walking in so early in the morning it was nice. Ephram followed the same path he had two nights ago, only this time the porch was bare. He jogged up the stairs and knocked on the door. Jig answered, wrapped in so much stuff you could shoot her, and the bullet would never touch her skin. Ephram smiled and suppressed a laugh as she half walked, half waddled onto the porch with him.

"Here," she said handing him a cereal bar. He took and looked at it with odd amusement.

"Thanks but I'm fine…"

"No, I took you away from breakfast. I don't want you dying of malnutrition during the day because of me," she told him. He nodded and placed the bar in his book bag.

"Okay. Come on, let's go," he said turning around and walking down the steps. Jig followed him, very slowly. When her feet touched the snow covered cement, they failed her. She fell forward and lucky for her Ephram was able to catch her on the way down. He helped her to her feet and laughed.

"You don't know how to walk on snow, do you?" he asked her.

"It wasn't exactly a needed skill where I come from," she explained with an obvious dislike for the frozen rain.

"No, I guess it wouldn't be. Come on, I'll help you," he said and the two slowly walked down the street, Ephram holding on to her arms to prevent her from hitting the ground.

They moved slowly along for a block or two, successfully keeping Jig off of the ground. As they walked under a tree bare of leaves but filled with snow, a branch shook unnaturally, dumping the snowy contents on the two. They both yelled in surprise and frantically wiped the fine powder off of themselves. In unison they looked up to see the raccoon sitting by the now bare tree limb.

"Ein you're lucky I'm afraid of heights!" Jig yelled up to the raccoon. The creature simply titled its head from side to side, almost in amusement. Jig scoffed and continued walking. Ephram joined her out of necessity.

"You named it?" he asked her surprised.

"It makes him easier to yell at," she explained. He nodded in slight understanding. Then something else hit him.

"You named it Ein?"

"Yea, the Corgie."

"Oh right, Cowboy Bebop," he said nodding.

"I couldn't think of any raccoon characters."

"What about from Dragon Ball?"

"Can you think of one?"

"No, but there must be."

"Yea well, Ein works well for me," Jig said and Ephram caught her just before she hit the ground.

He picked Dr. Cather. It would be annoying, and dreadful, and he'd be the butt of jokes for years, but at least his feet wouldn't hurt when it was over. Rose had even called and set up an appointment. What a horrible state things were in when Harold and Rose Abbott would need to talk to a shrink. And she was Dr. Brown's sister too. Insult to injury. She'd just be like all other shrinks. "How do you feel about this?" and "what can we do to overcome this?" Asking question but never giving answers. A profession of guessing. "The human mind is a complex thing…" Beeswax! If they want complexity they should have taken Dr. Abbott's exam on the nervous system. Dr. Abbott seeing a shrink, if word got out… Well, at least everyone would know he went under duress.

Desi and Amy sat together at lunch. Well, they sat next to each other. Neither had anything in front of her, and each gazed glumly around at the cafeteria. Everyone was happy and talking, each smile mocking the two girls. The week had not been going well for either of them. Between the two of them there were several regrets. Going to see Star was one they happened to share. It was also one that happened to bring them together at this moment. They both knew the other had gone to see her, and they spoke nothing of it to anyone. So now they carried a common secret, which, on some odd level, made each other's company the only comfortable company left for them. For Amy Desi's company was an escape from everything else, for Desi, Amy's company was what Star had intended, an instant friend.

After a minute in the developer Jig used the prongs to move her five by seven into the stop bath. She then agitated it for ten seconds before moving it to the fix. As she stood there in the near dark, Orrie walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder.

"You're making good use of that camera," Orrie told her. Jig laughed.

"Good camera."

"How'd you get a raccoon to look right at you?"

"Wasn't a problem…"

"Okay… So, what filter did you use?"

"Oh, I went with the 3 ½, you were right."

"Well, if I know anything really well, it's photography."

"And anime."

"Anime is too broad to know really well."

"Well, maybe not. But, thank you for sharing your photographic skills with me," Jig said, moving the photo into the water.

"I'm surprised you don't have any pictures of Ephram."

"Now why would I have pictures of Ephram?"

"You do spend so much time together…"

"Do I hear some jealousy there?"

"Not 'some,' " Orrie said with a grin. Jig smiled. She placed the photo in the wash and then back into the water. Together they walked out of the dark room and Jig dried the access water off of the photo and hung it by the window. Orrie nodded.

"He's a cute little guy, isn't he?" Orrie asked her. Jig frowned.

"Yea, adorable."

"Hey, is this Delia?" Orrie asked her looking at a photo already hanging up. The picture was of Delia asleep on the couch.

"Yea, I thought Ephram would like it," Jig said and Orrie gave her a playful stare. She smiled.

"Or maybe Edna and Irv would like it," she said. Orrie laughed.

"Hey you know what, you can give it to Ephram if you like. I don't care that you two hang out. He seems pretty stuck on Amy anyway."

"Yea, you'd think she was fly paper or something," Jig said taking down the image of Delia.

"You have a spot," Orrie said pointing to it. Jig batted his hand away with a grin.

Ephram lay down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. Delia had complained of a minor headache so he listened to his music through his headphones instead of his normal speakers. Like a lot of his songs, this one was about deceit and heartbreak. There was definitely a theme going here. Sick of that theme he stood up and changed his CD. The first song was the Sailor Moon theme in French. What, it was different. Of course it was Isaac again but he didn't really care. Jig was allowed her old friends just as he was allowed his. Actually he could think of a few old friends he'd rather not have Jig find out about. Amy too. He knew some people he'd rather not have Amy know about. A few blemishes in his past. Though, Amy probably has those as well. That thought made Ephram smile. He could accept perfectly well that Jig and Desi had things in their pasts worth hiding, Jig growing up as she did and Desi being in a political family, but Amy… What could she have done worth covering up? He bet it was good. Jig might know. No, she probably wouldn't. Edna… no, she'd never tell. There was a knock on his door so Ephram removed the headphones and allowed entrance. Jig walked in holding a picture frame. She closed the door behind her.

"What are you listening to?" she asked him.

"Uh, nothing," he lied. Jig laughed.

"Okay… Here," she said and handed him the picture frame. Inside was the photo she had taken of Delia. He smiled.

"Cool, where'd you get this?" he asked her.

"I took it, and developed it in Orrie's dark room," Jig told him. Ephram's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?"

"No, I'm lying. Yes really! I know there's a spot there but-"

"It looks great, Jig. Does she know you took this?" Ephram asked her. Jig grinned.

"If she did I'd be dead. Now, I have to go, Orrie and I are playing Monopoly with Edna and Irv, and I want to get there early so I can be the Scottie. See you later Eph," she said with a wave and started walking away.

"Bye! And don't call me 'Eph!'" he yelled after her. He heard her laughing as she walked down the stairs.